Don't Rain on My Domain
by Hakase Fudou
Summary: Takeru notices that Flame has a negative reaction whenever it rains. Curious, he asks his Ignis what the deal is. Flame, unwillingly, shares the story.


**Don't Rain on My Domain**

_A Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS one-shot_

Summary: Takeru notices that Flame has a negative reaction whenever it rains. Curious, he asks his Ignis what the deal is. Flame, unwillingly, shares the story.

* * *

**Takeru's Apartment – Den City**

Yet another rainy day at Den City kept Takeru and his Ignis Flame indoors. Thankfully, it was the weekend, so that meant going to school soaked wouldn't be an issue. And, somehow, he got everything he needed for the day after school yesterday, which was unusual for him. It's not that Takeru hated the rain, but it was a major inconvenience.

Flame, he had noticed, his Duel Disk shaking, was a whole different story.

"Flame," called Takeru, "we're not going outdoors in this weather. You're going to be fin-"

"It doesn't matter!"

Takeru sighed, getting up to shut the blinds. Picking up the Duel Disk and sitting in a chair, Takeru said in a low voice, "Flame, it's okay now. You don't have to see the rain."

With trepidation, Flame slowly materialized from the Duel Disk from his eyeball form to his miniature form, body still shaking, before he threw himself against Takeru's shirt.

"What's with you? I know rain bothers you, but you usually don't react this bad to it," his Origin said, gently rubbing the top of his head as one would pet a dog or a cat.

"Bad memories. That's all," Flame coughed out, not wanting to say anymore than that. But that response wasn't enough for Takeru.

"Maybe talking about it will help," he said. "You know, like what we did about my Despair from the Dark fear."

Flame only further buried his face in the white cotton shirt. _Talking was off the table, huh?_ But Takeru wasn't about to give up. Flame had done so much good for Takeru, so if he could help him in any way, he's going to do so in a heartbeat, starting with the fear of rain.

"Flame."

Flame, hearing his Origin speaking his name softly, removed his face from Takeru's shirt and looked up to find him looking with not disdain or annoyance as he had expected, but understanding. He thought for a moment about Takeru's advice and decided it was a good idea. The other Ignis – Ai, especially – had made fun of him for his fear, but maybe Takeru would be different. He'd hope so – they're one in the same, after all. Resting his head back on Takeru's stomach, he sighed.

"Okay, Takeru. Promise me you won't laugh, though."

"Of course."

Flame closed his eyes, vividly recalling the events of that day, the day that he and the rain became enemies.

* * *

**Cyberse World**

_It'd been a normal day in the Cyberse: each of the six Ignis carrying on their duties in their domain. Well, all of them, except for Ai, of course. He preferred the lazy lifestyle, letting everyone else do the work at his domain while he went off with the Cyberse monsters and did as he pleased. Most days, it's a slight inconvenience, but the other Ignis could tolerate. But, on this particular day, it became the catalyst for a catastrophe. _

"_Ai, you can't just sit around all the time. You have to do some work, you know," Aqua had said, arms crossed. _

"_What's the big deal?" Ai had ignorantly asked. "It'll get done eventually. Why rush things?"_

_Aqua sighed at the time, brushing off the comment. You see, that's what Ai would usually respond with whenever anyone asked him to do any work whatsoever, so it's always expected that's what Ai would say. But, whether Ai was feeling more mischievous than usual or what, no one knew. After the usual response, he added, "Besides, you're not the leader, anyway, so no sense in telling me what to do."_

_The rest of the Ignis had fair weather in our domains for only a few hours after that. Then, the water hell started. First, it was little droplets. Then, the droplets that weren't big enough to become a problem but just the right size so that they became a nuisance. Then, the regular showers. The regular showers weren't so bad, but it was harder for me, the Flame Ignis, to keep maintain my fires if everything I was using was soaking wet. But then the showers became more furious, angrier, and none of us – except for Aqua and Earth – could do anything except hope, as much as an AI can hope, that they would stop. The rains were not only making it hard to do work, but I noticed that it was having an adverse effect on my body. It was similar to how you humans have allergies, I believe? I was developing physical abnormalities, and I was having issues even breathing. _

_Safe to say, if something didn't happen soon, I felt like I wasn't going to make it. _

_I hadn't thought Aqua would listen to me since she'd be too angry, so I first went to Earth, even though his domain is the farthest from mine. Earth was the only Ignis she ever listened to, even in her emotional states, so I pleaded to him my case._

"_Earth," I said, "you have to talk with Aqua. If it doesn't stop raining soon, it's doubtful I'll survive. She'll listen to you, won't she?"_

_Earth listened carefully, nodding as if understanding. But, unfortunately, he said, "Aqua is beyond listening even to me at this point. The only way her anger can be stopped is if Ai apologizes."_

_I took a step back. Ai? Apologize? That was as likely as Lightning being approachable. It just wasn't possible. _

"_So the rains aren't going to stop," I concluded, head hanging low. Earth didn't have a response for that, so I left and made my way to Ai's domain. Maybe the rains wouldn't stop, but something told me to talk with Ai anyway. As usual, Ai didn't have a care in the world, even while the rest of us were struggling to keep our domains in order. He had built an impressive cloud cover that absorbed the rain and was resting beneath it with Linkuriboh. It'd made me furious how the rest of us could struggle, but he could just pretend like none of it was affecting him. It was then that I knew how Aqua, as gentle and kind as she was, could become angry enough to unleash the devasting rains on us. _

"_Do you have any idea what's going on?" I screamed at him, intentionally disturbing his peaceful nap._

"_It's a little rainy, isn't it?" he responded, his eyes still relaxed, infuriating me all the more._

"_This is no time for your terrible jokes," I said. "In case you haven't noticed, my domain and my life are in jeopardy here. Fire and water don't exactly mix well."_

_Ai sat back up and stared at me for the longest time. "Oh yeah, you don't look so good."_

"_No kidding," I replied coldly. "You're going to apologize to Aqua and have her stop this rain or so help me."_

"_Apologize? For what?" _

"_For insulting her!" _

_Ai looked at me, as if he was trying to remember what exactly I was referring to. Then, putting a fist in his hand, he said, "Oh! This is because I said she wasn't the leader, right?" I could feel my insides boil with fury. _

"_You're just now realizing this. Absolutely wonderful," I replied. "Now are you going to apologize or not?"_

_Ai laughed a little, and my insides were at their melting point with how infuriating the whole situation was. But, surprisingly, he said, "Okay, yeah, Ai'll go talk with her. Stay here and keep dry, alright?" After I ignored his pun and thanked him, getting up, he made his way outside in the pouring rain, which had become hard to see through. I had wanted to follow him, making sure he didn't go off and do something else instead, but, even though I'm an Ignis, I became exhausted, just like a human would. Was it a side effect from the program being that damaged? I didn't know at the time. I still don't know. But, it was scary, feeling that tired, like I could shut down at any moment. That was the closest I felt to death. I tried to force myself to stay awake, but eventually, that tiredness took over me, and I fell asleep._

_I wasn't sure how long I was out for, but, when I came to, I was back in my domain, laying on top of the lava pool, the other five Ignis looking on, Aqua looking the most concerned._

"_What . . . what are you guys doing here?" I asked, looking directly at Ai. _

"_Yeah, so, I told Aqua what was going on, and she decided to tell Earth who decided to tell Lightning and . . . yeah," Ai explained. "I had Linkuriboh bring you back, but you shouldn't scare us like that, Flame! We thought you were a goner!"_

_I stared upwards and noticed the sky had returned to its normal blue state, the clouds having banished, and the sun shining once again. "Yeah, I thought I was a goner too."_

"_Flame, I'm sorry," Aqua apologized over and over again. "I didn't realize how much I was hurting you. I'm really sorry."_

"_Aqua, don't worry about it," I reassured her. "I'm guessing, Ai, you apologized?"_

"_I did," he replied, with a hint of "but not by choice" in his voice. _

_After that, everything went back to normal, and it hadn't rained in the Cyberse since._

* * *

**Takeru's Apartment – Den City**

Takeru listened attentively to the story, holding his Ignis closer to him. To think he had almost lost his Ignis before he met him, before he had a chance to turn his life around – it was sad to think about. How could he possibly laugh at Flame for being scared of rain after going through that? How could _anyone_?

"I'm guessing . . ." Takeru said after a period of silence, " . . . I'm guessing the others had moved on from that experience, but you haven't had a chance to. That's why they laugh at your fear, isn't it?"

Flame nodded. "That's right. I don't hold it against them, though. I want to get over it too – really – but it's hard."

Takeru closed his eyes. "I get it. Really. But, you're safe now. It won't rain indoors. You'll be fine, I promise."

Flame rested his head on Takeru's stomach, trying to tune out the sound of the pouring rain outside.

"Thank you, Takeru."

* * *

**A/N:** I swear I meant for this to be fluffy. I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN FOR THIS TO BE HURT/COMFORT DAMMIT!

yeah so I wanted to do something for the Cyberse Celebration event (*crosses fingers in that hopefully this is within parameters lmao*), and I remembered talking with a mutual about "hey what if Flame had a fear of rain b/c of something Aqua did." So I've had the idea since. And today, I decided to write out the idea, but... this hurt/comfort angst came out instead of the fluffy, humorous thing I had in mind adlfkjdslkfja.

One day I might come up with a humorous take on this fic, but have this for now.

(also don't ask me at what point in VRAINS this is supposed to take place in b/c I'm not so sure myself lmao)

Either way, if you've made it this far, I hope the fic was worth your time. 😭 Thanks for reading!

_~Hakase Fudo: September 1, 2019~_


End file.
